John Piper Says There is ‘No Such Thing in the Universe as So-Called Gay Marriage’ and It ‘Can’t be Consecrated as a Holy Marriage’ Because It is ‘Dishonorable and Shameful’

May 17, 2019

The sexual union of two men or women is not “gay marriage” — it’s no marriage, biblically — and when they come to Christ, that former relationship has no binding authority, John Piper has said.

In a recent podcast, Piper, chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, weighed in on a question from “Cameron,” who asked whether same-sex couples living together and practicing homosexuality should remain in that relationship once they come to Christ.

“No, I would not recommend that two men or two women living together, practicing homosexuality, remain in that relationship,” Piper responded. “The reasons are several.”

He explained that while it’s possible for men and women to enter into a marriage wrongly, a prohibited heterosexual relationship can become a consecrated and holy one.

“I conclude that while it was an adulterous act to marry under the conditions that Jesus disapproves of in Luke 16, nevertheless, it’s called a marriage,” he explained. “A marriage is a matter of covenant faithfulness between a man and a woman. Therefore, I would encourage that couple to repent of what they did wrong and to ask for forgiveness and to consecrate their union, which, though it should not have happened, may nevertheless be holy before the Lord.”

But the same principles don’t apply to same-sex relationships, Piper contended, because two men or two women entering a relationship of sexual union with promises is not a marriage.

“You can’t consecrate a marriage that should not have taken place if it is not a marriage at all,” he said. “The union of two men and two women is not gay marriage — it’s no marriage. I don’t like the idea that so many people are willing to use the term gay marriage instead of calling it so-called gay marriage, because there is no such thing in the universe as so-called gay marriage.”

“That’s the main reason one relationship can be consecrated as a holy marriage and the other one can’t,” he said. “One is a marriage and the other is not a marriage — no matter how many thousands of times legislators and laws and judges and news commentators say that it is. It isn’t. That’s the first difference.”

It’s impossible, Piper continued, to make honorable what God has said by nature is dishonorable.

“In other words, homosexual behavior is not wrong just because it’s commanded that we don’t do it. It’s wrong because, by nature, it is dishonorable and shameful,” he said. “In other words, sexual relations between a man and a woman are not, by nature, dishonorable and shameful.